GUKPT Cardiff Part 1

Thursday

Rushed down Thursday afternoon to register, not just myself but for four Ladbrokes qualifiers too. I needn’t have worried. Only 49 players were playing and day 1 and at the time only 50 had registered for day 2. This is not too unusual for these events. Many players arrive last minute and register. It was still expected to have over a 100 player for the next day.

My hotel was right next door to the hotel. Very convenient,  however the rooms can’t be more baron at Broadmoor. You at least have to be as mad to think this was a nice place to stop. Now I know Travelodge is a budget hotel, but for 70 quid a night it was hardly a budget price.

I bumped into BigAdz (Adam Collins) and I reluctantly had a drink or five at the bar while we waited for the Ladbrokes lads. We were later joined by New1Home, PlymLegend and Potstealer. The latter 2 being far more sensible and resisting a good drink. New1Home on the other hand was not hard to convince.

After foolishly playing the 100 quid crapshoot I retired to my room and fell asleep watching The Wire. Possible my favourite ever TV program.

Friday

I woke up early and decided to have breakfast. Obviously the Travel Lodge restaurant had just shut (which was like wining a big pot no doubt) so I called Adam to have breakfast at his hotel. Now Adam is a shrewd cookie. He has made the Travelodge mistake himself on a previous occasion. He had booked into the Future inn.

I drove over there and asked if they had any rooms available for the next 2 nights.

“Yes Sir, but I am afraid we only have a handicapped room left”

“Well that’s ironic, I’m parked in a handicapped space, I’ll take it.”

I returned to my hotel to check out. The problem with the robbing bastards at Travelodge is they charge your card in advance. I assume it’s in the hope that people do not chase the refunds. I was not falling for this.

“Why are you checking out sir” the man asked.

“Well frankly it’s the worst room I have stopped in since a small unfortunate event on Chorley Taxi Rank a few years back.” I replied.

“Well I can’t refund you just because you don’t like the room”

“Yes you can, you see it is supposed to be a ‘Flexible Rate’. That means I can check out when I want, now gimme my money”

After about 20 minutes and some huffing and puffing from the staff they eventually charged the money back to my card.

While at breakfast with Adam we pondered on how many runners day 2 would get. I set a spread at 105 and he sold for a quid. I mean, there can’t be a swing bigger than a fiver either way.

Drewster, the last remained Ladbrokes player joined us and we all sat down at 2 o clock.

On my table was James Keys (after his early exit he went onto Nottingham to win the £300 Deepstack at DTD, nice work), Tristan McDonald and the long Missing Stuart Fox. We were also joined by Ladbrokes player Potstealer, who was looking pretty damn useful himself.

Stu is not only a one of the best players in the UK but maybe the world. He is also a good friend of mine and I was not looking forward to locking horns.

 After a while I pick up pocket nines and raised. Stu calls and we see a flop of 4 8 9, two spades. I don’t want to go daft here and bet out. Stu re-raises and we get the lot in. He’s holding pocket eights and had no chance of escape. I was sad to see him go but consoled by the fact the most dangerous player on the table had exited.

The guy to my left I had pegged to be a standard tight player however it became apparent I had misjudged him. And every time I limped in the small blind he would raise it. He bluffed off a huge part of his chips to Tristan and was now on around 5.5k. Folded round to me I limped in with 79 on the small blind. He immediately raised. I had planned to set a trap with a big hand so I was prepared to fold. Strangely some reflex re-action made me set him all in. He called in a flash and his pocket 10’s were plenty to double him up. Oops. I didn’t mind losing so much, except for his smug comment of “nice doing business with ya!”. It was obvious he had taken a dislike to me, and it made me think he was playing back at me in previous pots purely for this reason.

With the blinds at 100/200 I find 10 J on the button and raise to 600 when It is checked to me. My new “MATE” calls in the small blind and we see a flop of 4 5 J with 2 spades. He checks and I bet 1100. He raises to 4000. I decide he is at it and push all in for around 8k more. He calls in a flash and I am sure I’m toast. I ask if he has AJ and he smugly shakes his head and tables a pocket pair. I glance at them and assume a set. The turn and river are blanks and I say nice hand, getting up to leave. Everyone shouts “YOU’VE WON”. Eh! I look again and he has pocket 6’s. He hadn’t made a set at all. Not sure how he called me so quick, but hey ho!

The table got broken and I moved to a new table with over 30k. I started picking up hands and won some tasty pots with AK and pocket queens. Finally finishing the day with over 72k and the chip lead. Felt nice to finally do that again. Time for a few beers back at my fancy smancy new hotel.

Bollox, only 71 runners day 2 FFS. I had to give Adam 34 quid. He’s buying.